As the thing shambled into view, Jade was already letting another arrow fly. It was all she could do to keep from gagging. The sheer stench of either the thing or the dark magics that had brought it into being was nigh overwhelming. As she reloaded, she said with deceptive calm, "Would the rest of you kindly lend us a hand?"

Coal Dog dashed forward, sword whirling over his head, only to be slapped backward by the creature's mighty paw.He flew past the rest, smacking into the wall, and landing with a groan."Not...my...day..." he muttered with a small humorless grin.

Tarquin simply takes a single step back, smiling slightly, though without emotion at the sight of the charred figure. Due to the fact the fireball had struck and therefore - for the most part - flickered out, the magicial light which was filling the cavern would once again fail, creating the dim atmosphere once again. He does not conjure another fireball, nor any other form of magic for the moment, allowing himself a brief respite as he silently allows the others to do what they could. His lips do curl wider slightly into a smirk as that 'blasphemous' pirate is struck and flung away.

Shortly behind Coal Dog is Searren, the knight drawing his blade even as he charges. Polished to a silvery sheen, and deeply engraved with golden runes, whatever magics may lie in the blade are dormant as the gold-armored man takes a broad, flat slash, attempting to take advantage of it's motion to slap the pirate away. As he slashes, his harsh voice bellows out, "BURN!"

Coal Dog lurched weakly to his feet."All about flames, that one."He shook his head. Before the other's eyes, he slowly straightened, and a twisted limb righted itself with a sharp popping noise."All good. Have at thee, demon!" he shouted, picking up his gold-colored sword and rushing to help Searren.

Seeing Coal Dog's success with his attack, in a flash, Andimia sheathes her right sword, and pulls one of four daggers from her right thigh, throwing it at the hideous creature's head, finishing the throw by unsheathing her sword in one fluent motion.

Silence erupted into chaos as one of the passages that led off the cavern began belching smoke and fire. Shouts and warcries echoed across the dank stone and flickering lights shot across.

Tras jolted awake, grabbing at Vyre, his rapier, as an arrow clattered harmlessly across the carvern. He spotted the chaos that one of the tunnels emitted and ran towards it. Smoke obstructed his sight and he did not dare to charge into the place, filled with shadowy figures and dangerous movements. And magic.

Magic. The heavy stench of it. But not for long...

Tras stood, slightl shadowed by the billowing smoke as a ghostly white began creeping from his form. A flicker of antimagic, the bane of all mages, emitted itself from his motionless form. Then it died, the spark never burning to a flame.

"What in the name of..."

He trailed off and gave up trying to use his antimagic, which seemed to be dampened.

The charred beast stomped forward, nearly toppling, and swiped at Andimia with an ashy paw. The slap went high, however, and swept over the woman's head, swinging the creature off-balance.Coal Dog struck, slicing a layer of flesh from the leg of the thing, and a foetid stench arose as his blade met the bone. The flesh was rotten to the muscle.

(OOC: Just as a reminder, the only reason Jade can smell magic is her unique ancesty, which gave her, among other things, a heightened sense of smell.)

Too much. It was too much. The stench rose from the wounds of the monster like a tangible thing. Jade staggerd backwards, choking. Could none of them smell it? She moved out of the way, allowing the others more room to fight. She moved to the far edge of the room, trying to get air.

As the creature swung at her, Andimia ducked a little, then stepped to the side and slashed at the beast's exposed side with her two swords. The Rogue stepped back to put her mask accross her face as the stench was horrible. Andimia saw her dagger lying on the floor accross the cavern. How had she missed her target? She then noticed Jade gasping for air. As all sound in her head went quiet except for the beating of her heart, Andimia looked back towards the beast just as it was taking another swing at her.

As he hacks at the creature ineffectually, there's little Searren can do, except to do his best to sidle his way past, attempting to flank the creature cursing all the way. For a moment, he is stopped by a swinging paw, catching it on his runed blade for a moment, before breaking free, to emerge behind the creature. He makes several more mostly inneffectual hacks, frustration and angre building on his face all the while, until the runes upon the blade burst into flame.

For a moment, the blade rises, before it swings down again, the runes channeling the man's rage into burning flame and cutting power.

Tarquin studies the woman who backs away, seemedly choking at the odours of the battle, but then blinks, his gaze darting backwards down the tunnel as that sickly feeling of null-magic begins down there, and Tarquin actually hisses in fury - Such things he loathed... But his hiss dies down as that feeling fades - whatever made that seemed to have stopped now... Then, of course, comes a mans voice from that corridoor, and Tarquin seriously considers not replying - In any other circumstances, he would kill such a threat to his existence... but, null-magic could be quite effective for the future of their 'adventure', so his better judgement decides him to put aside his hatred for the moment, "Come, aid us..." His voice was just a broken, ragged whisper, but all the same it would seem to penetrate the sound of battle and the distance to reach the ears of the man down that corridoor.

Tarquin does not linger to await a response, however, and his attention turns once again back to the creature attacking them. He raises his right arm, pointing index and middle finger towards the creatures midsection and awaiting for a clear shot. The second he gets one, the mage utters in a broken, barely audible voice, "fulguritus..." Promptly, as though summoned, a spark of what seems to be pure, electrical energy vines around the mans fingers, as though hesitant to leave, but then, in a burst, and a crack of sound, the blue and pure white light darts from his finger, streaking with great speed towards the beast. Whether it hits or not, Tarquin's shoulders then slump, and his knees buckle slightly, causing him to stumble ungracefully back. His leg catches apon the hem of his black robe as he stumbles back, and he consequently looses his footing, falling down to the ground with a heavy exhalation of breath. Straight after, however, he pushes himself off the ground into a kneeling position, one hand raised to his forehead and his gaze cast to the ground. He is breathing quite heavily, and seems defenseless for the moment - If the creature has not been too effected by the spell, and if it manages to break past the others attacking it, it may have a quite clear shot to this weakened mage.

The glowing blade and flashing bolt sheared through charred and stinking flesh, smashing through bone and releasing a cloud of horrible gray gas from the beast's innards. The whole ashy mass released a rattling screech, and, releasing a swirl of foul vapor, toppled to the floor, brain matter, blood, and charred ash splashing outward over the floor."Shark's...Teeth..." Coal Dog gasped, catching his breath. "We've felled that demon!"He seemed not to realize the sorcerous power of Searren.

Jade gasped for air. Even dead, the stench was hideous. She finally got enough breath back to stand up and look around. It was dead, true, but it had made a hell of a mess. Coal Dog had taken still undetermined injuries, and Tarquin looked like he was about to drop. And there was yet another newcomer, in the passage behind the dead thing. "This just keeps getting better and better."

Apon hearing the pirates utterance, Tarquin pushes himself to his feet, though at first seeming as though he would stumble once again. His gaze seems to flicker into an orangey hue as Tarquins gaze shifts from physical to ethereal. His eyes study the surroundings for that soul that would have been released apon the death of the creature. He gives a faint growl, though, apon finding nothing, and utters, "d**n..." Softly, but with intense emotion. He was depending on that soul to refresh him for the next battle - and since there wasnt any, he will still not be able to cast any particuarly powerful spells for a while. The mages eyes slide back into that hellish, crimson shade once again and he now turns his gaze to the sickening pile of ashes, brain and ooze, looking for anything redeemable to replenish him slightly. Of course, he finds nothing, so instead turns to watch the rest of the group with perhaps uneasy silence. He has come to the conclusion that the beast was either animated, or undead, due to the fact there was no soul. He was familiar with both aspects, but since all magic residue to hold such beasts together fails with the creatures death, he came out of that battle with no gain.

"I don't know." Jade looked at the pirate thoughtfully. She hadn't smelled any magic on him, but maybe it had just been overwhelmed by the smell of the other magics around. She'd gotten confused before. All she knew was that for some reason, she felt slightly more at ease around him than she did the others. And there was still the matter of the stranger down the hall.

As Searren's blade slams through the creature, the elfin knight howls something incomprehensible in words that snap and crack, as if they were meant to be spoken by a bonfire rather than a man. It's only a moment after that the war-cry breaks into coughing as he catches a breath of that foul vapor.

Once his lungs are clear of the hacking, he stands straight, looking into the shattered mass of the creature's body. As he speaks, his voice is clear, yet it cracks, snaps and hisses much like the words of his warcry, and his face is unmoving and disturbingly placid, all traces of his anger gone. "Lord of Flame! The cleansing of this place has begun! Grant me the light to see my path and the fury to follow it!" The blade in his hand rises upwards in a sort of salute, before he swings it down sharply, and sheathes it.

His ritual done, Searren steps forwards, treading ash underfoot, as he says, "Whatever it was, I'm entirely certain it wasn't what it was born. Someone made it, and there will likely be more akin to it. That someone probably won't be very keen on us being here and alive, and killing his pets. Therefore, we need to start moving, and start being ready for the next thing to come. I suggest we start with finding that thing's lair, and seeing if the last few people he dined on had something we can use."

Andimia picked herself off of the gound of the cavern, coughing from the stench of the slain creature, She had taken an ungraceful dive to avoid the creature's swinging paw. Removing her mask, she brushed her cloak off, and picked up her swords. She looked around to she how the others were fairing. "At least we're all alive." she said weakly as she wiped a chunk of festering flesh off of her arm. after sheathing her swords, she walked over and picked up her dagger, staring at it. "I can't believe I missed." she whispered disappointedly to herself as she placed it in its sheath.

Coal Dog edged away from Tarquin and stared at Searren."Err...What manner of ears are those? What island'd you come from, friend? Balkarra? Chismek?" he said, walking towards the fire-worshipper. "Or did you come from the Mainland?"

"Don't worry." Jade stepped up behind her. "I missed-" She was interrupted by a fit of coughing. "I missed it twice. Which is twice more than I should have." She prodded on of the ashy bits with the toe of her boot. "I'm not entirely sure that we're to blame for that."

Tarquin does not reply to the pirate, even though he had his own suspicions as to what it was - as stated in his previous post. His brow quirks slightly apon the words of Saerren, though - That was a rather good assuption made by him. All the same, he turns back to peer up the passageway that the creature came from, simply watching, eyes penetrating through the darkness. Unfortunately, he had missed the pirates abnormal regeneration - a shame, for Tarquin would certainly have had something snide to say about it. But, he may get injured again in the future... All the same, he gives a faint nod before speaking in a raspy, whispered voice. "Wise words, knight..." His gaze shifts to Saerren once more, peering at him intensly, "We should find corpses..." Of course, his thoughts werent on scavenging a corpses weapon... Of course, there was also both that unconscious man against the wall to think about, as well as that other one down the passageway - that had given off such an unpleasant anti-magic sensation...

"They are ears that hear, just like yours, sir. What other manner of ears are there?" He smiles faintly for a moment, before taking another jingling step, and then another. "I am from the Giantwood, if you must know." As for where this is in relation to Coal Dog's islands? No one knows, really. It'd be something interesting to try to figure out, maybe, but here's not the time and place.

"Are any of you trained in the ways of stealth?" The knight looks ruefully down at his own armor, while he says with the faintest chuckle, "I'd be heard at fifty paces, and I don't think we want to give the things that prowl here that much advance notice of our coming, especially when we don't know where they are, do you?"